Connect to internet and laptop crashes?

justagirl

My friend has a problem with her laptop .... its working fine ... then she connects to the internet and a blue screen comes up with lots of text (too quick to read anything on it) and then the laptop turns off and starts to reboot..... shes got AVG on it and Zonealarm... AVG is not picking anything up virus wise...the laptop is a Toshiba about 2 years old...

Anyone have any advice on what I could do ? Thank you.:)

Michael Collins

Without knowing any more about the situation I'd say it could be a modem driver issue... How does she connect to the internet, is it dial-up or broadband? Is there a "!" beside any entries in Device Manager?

Gadgetman496

Michael Collins wrote:

Without knowing any more about the situation I'd say it could be a modem driver issue... How does she connect to the internet, is it dial-up or broadband? Is there a "!" beside any entries in Device Manager?

I'd say you're bang on the money there Michael.

Another thing you could do is to disable the Auto restart on error? it will give you the time to read the full error on screen. Here's how to do that,

Start
Right Click My Computer
Choose Properties
Choose Advanced TAB
Click on the "Startup and Recovery" Settings button
Under the "System Failure" section, Uncheck the "Automatically restart" box.

Anti

good idea that.

justagirl

Thank you Michael and gadgetman496. I've done that and the message reads as follows:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you’ve seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follows these steps:

Check to be sure your have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the Stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If your need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.


Technical information:
***STOP:0x0000008E (0xC000001D), 0xFF7B1078, 0XF097F494, 0x00000000)

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance."

I connected to the internet using 3G ... my friend has used dial-up and we both get the same mesage.....

Can you please tell me what does this mean?... Would she be better off bringing it to a company for them to fix it for her?.. Thanks again for your help.

Gadgetman496

justagirl wrote:

Thank you Michael and gadgetman496. I've done that and the message reads as follows:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you’ve seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follows these steps:

Check to be sure your have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the Stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If your need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

I have seen this error many times & 9 times out of ten it is the USB Controler drivers that cause it. You could try updating that driver first.


Technical information:
***STOP:0x0000008E (0xC000001D), 0xFF7B1078, 0XF097F494, 0x00000000)

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance."

I connected to the internet using 3G ... my friend has used dial-up and we both get the same mesage.....

Can you please tell me what does this mean?... Would she be better off bringing it to a company for them to fix it for her?.. Thanks again for your help.

There is no doubt that the problem is being caused by one of the drivers. That should not be too hard to sort.

If you right click "My Computer" & choose "Manage" then choose "Device Manager" you will see a list of all the installed devices. Look at them and see if any of them have a question mark or an exclamation mark beside them. If any of them has you need to right click it & choose uninstall. Restart the machine & it will reinstall them for you. If none of them report a problem I would suggest that you right click each one of them & choose "Update Driver" & see if windows will install a more up to date driver. Finally You can right click each one & choose disable & restart each time until you identify the culprit.

9 times out of ten this error is caused by the drivers for the USB controller, maybe you should try to update that first.

justagirl

gadgetman496 wrote:

If you right click "My Computer" & choose "Manage" then choose "Device Manager" you will see a list of all the installed devices. Look at them and see if any of them have a question mark or an exclamation mark beside them. If any of them has you need to right click it & choose uninstall. Restart the machine & it will reinstall them for you. If none of them report a problem I would suggest that you right click each one of them & choose "Update Driver" & see if windows will install a more up to date driver. Finally You can right click each one & choose disable & restart each time until you identify the culprit.

9 times out of ten this error is caused by the drivers for the USB controller, maybe you should try to update that first.

Firstly - thank you gadgetman496 for your advices ..... much appreciated...

There was no question marks or exclamation marks beside any of the installed devices ... a few of them needed updating - which I did.... then I disabled and restarted each one.... and still no joy...... think I have to give up now!! my brain is frazzled!!!:eek:

justagirl

Apologies for double posting ... have no idea how I managed to do that... took great skill I'm sure!

gadgetman496 wrote:

If you right click "My Computer" & choose "Manage" then choose "Device Manager" you will see a list of all the installed devices. Look at them and see if any of them have a question mark or an exclamation mark beside them. If any of them has you need to right click it & choose uninstall. Restart the machine & it will reinstall them for you. If none of them report a problem I would suggest that you right click each one of them & choose "Update Driver" & see if windows will install a more up to date driver. Finally You can right click each one & choose disable & restart each time until you identify the culprit.

9 times out of ten this error is caused by the drivers for the USB controller, maybe you should try to update that first.

Firstly - thank you gadgetman496 for your advices ..... much appreciated...

There was no question marks or exclamation marks beside any of the installed devices ... a few of them needed updating - which I did.... then I disabled and restarted each one.... and still no joy....I'm sure I did it as you said.... think I have to give up now!! my brain is frazzled!!!:eek:

Oh, when I reboot .. a msg comes up saying "The system has recovered from a serious error" ... and when I view the 'technical info' it says: the following files will be included in this error report: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mino062807-04.dmp and C:\Docume~1\Patric~1\Locals~1\Temp\Wer3.tmp.dir00\sysdata.xml - no idea if this helps at all ..... Thanks.

justagirl

Bumpety bump.....

Just wondered if anyone could suggest anything else for me to try for my friend to try and fix this problem please?:( Thanks....

calex71

did you reinstall the modem etc? try removing and reinstalling any associated software also from add / remove programs. Also you could try going into device manager again and under the section universal serial bus controllers - right click each item and choose uninstall - then once they have all been uninstalled reboot. Windows should then try and reinstall them all when you log back on, ( you may need your windows / driver cd for this!!!!)

After that..................... are there many important files on the laptop? music photos etc? they should be copied to a cd or other back up media at this stage.

Reinstalling windows on the laptop would probably fix the issue but its probably overkill just at the minute if my advice doesnt work then maybe someone would have a better alternative than reinstalling windows.

justagirl

calex71 wrote:

did you reinstall the modem etc? try removing and reinstalling any associated software also from add / remove programs. Also you could try going into device manager again and under the section universal serial bus controllers - right click each item and choose uninstall - then once they have all been uninstalled reboot. Windows should then try and reinstall them all when you log back on, ( you may need your windows / driver cd for this!!!!)

After that..................... are there many important files on the laptop? music photos etc? they should be copied to a cd or other back up media at this stage.

Reinstalling windows on the laptop would probably fix the issue but its probably overkill just at the minute if my advice doesnt work then maybe someone would have a better alternative than reinstalling windows.

Update; When I go into Device Manager (and I chose to show hidden devices) ... under 'Non-Plug and Play Drivers' - There is a exclamation mark beside Serial ...I've disable it and enabled it... but no joy ... do you reckon this is the problem ?.. do I need the system disk to uninstall/reinstall?......

I've done all that is suggested but don't have my friends windows/driver cd... so will ask her for that..... I'm very nervous about reinstalling windows though especially when its not my laptop....... Callex71... I see your location as dublin/drogheda... my friend is in drogheda direction ... would you be able to recommend someone to fix it for her?....(not for free of course!!)...:)

calex71

theres a place on the dual carrigeway in drogheda a few doors down from xtra vison vision your friend would know there area id say,

they have a web site http://www.computerworks.ie/
not sure about their prices, id do it my self for free
but i live in dublin and only in drogheda the odd weekend.

MarkR

From another computer do to the manufacturers website and download the most up to date modem driver. Back into your device manager and choose to uninstall the modem. Run the driver installation program you've downloaded to install the driver.

If it's still failing after that you could try a system restore. It will change your settings back to an earlier time. Can be found under start menu, all programs, system tools, system restore. Choose a date in bold that you think the modem had been working. You won't lose any data but applications that have been installed in the meantime will need to be installed again.

justagirl

calex71 wrote:

theres a place on the dual carrigeway in drogheda a few doors down from xtra vison vision your friend would know there area id say,

they have a web site http://www.computerworks.ie/
not sure about their prices, id do it my self for free
but i live in dublin and only in drogheda the odd weekend.

Txs Calex71 - I'll told myfriend ... in the meantime she rung Har*** Norman where she bought laptop (over a year ago) and they have told her they'll look at it for her and try to fix it .. so hopefully she'll get a result from them - if not I'll get her to checkout computerworks.ie.... Thanks again for your time.:)

justagirl

MarkR wrote:

From another computer do to the manufacturers website and download the most up to date modem driver. Back into your device manager and choose to uninstall the modem. Run the driver installation program you've downloaded to install the driver.

If it's still failing after that you could try a system restore. It will change your settings back to an earlier time. Can be found under start menu, all programs, system tools, system restore. Choose a date in bold that you think the modem had been working. You won't lose any data but applications that have been installed in the meantime will need to be installed again.

Hello MarkR - Thanks for your reply....I'll print your suggestion and keep it safe.... in the meantime my friend rung Har*** Norman and they are willing to take back her laptop to have a look at it and see if they can fix it for her... which is pretty good seen as she got it over a year ago I think... fingers crossed they fix it for her ... otherwise I'll try what you said... Thanks again for your advice.